‘Fire safety sense’ campaign launched

A major campaign regarding the damaging effects surrounding the enforcement of the 2006 fire regulation is being launched by nine national organisations representing the vast majority of small tourism businesses in the UK.

The campaign is highlighting the closures of small B&Bs and home-based businesses, and calling for common-sense in determining what fire precautions are required in the home.

A website has been launched at FireSafetySENSE.com, and a 10 Downing Street Petition has been opened.

The campaign calls on the Government to act to halt the damage being caused to very small businesses (including small B&Bs, families offering a self-catering room or flat, and home-based businesses) by the inconsistent and burdensome way the regulations are being enforced by local fire authorities.

In 2006 the Government abolished Fire Certificates and brought in a new self-assessment fire precautions regime under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (the “RRFSO”). It was intended as a deregulatory measure, virtually all premises used by the public were brought under the regulations, but very small premises (now covered for the first time) were intended to be treated proportionately, bearing in mind their size and the actual fire risk posed.

The RRFSO requires owners to perform a “Fire Risk Assessment” and put in place “appropriate” fire precautions.

However in the two years since the new regulations were introduced, the trade associations behind the campaign have been inundated with calls from members threatened with closure or the enforcement of major works including fire doors, emergency lighting and sophisticated fire alarm systems – often even in family homes offering one or two bedrooms on a “B&B” basis.

David Weston, Chief Executive of the Bed & Breakfast Association, commented:
“Many small B&Bs have already closed rather than substantially alter their homes or spend a five-figure sum in order to offer hospitality to a couple of guests – and the guests themselves are choosing B&Bs for their more home-from-home qualities. All our members are very fire safety conscious, but we don’t see why commercial fire systems and fire doors are necessary, for instance, in a cottage which already has smoke detectors and fire extinguishers, and a careful owner staying on the premises”.

Malcolm Bell, Chief Executive of South West Tourism said:
“We have always supported the abolition of the 6 bed rule and we do support sensible fire regulations. However, at present there needs to be a more common-sense approach that is fit for the purpose and is also affordable. In addition the confusion and lack of consistency in the application of the new rules needs removing so that they are less confusing to the industry.

Otherwise bed & breakfasts’ in the region will be put out of business by having to spend vast amounts on safety measures that are being inconsistently enforced around the region.”

Although the RRFSO specifically excludes “domestic premises”, the Government’s ‘Department for Communities and Local Government’ (DCLG) have declared that if even one room is let to a non-family member even occasionally, the regulations apply. This means that everyone who accommodates a student in their home, for instance, must comply or face a possible £5,000 fine.

This brings hundreds of thousands of households within the fire regulations regime for the first time ever – and hardly any of those affected yet realise what the Government requires of them. By including all these homes, the regulations will only be workable if “common-sense” applies in practice and minimal precautions are enforced on householders – the campaign’s supporters fear that this may not be the case, unless the approach used during the first two years of the regulations is substantially modified.

The “Fire Safety SENSE Campaign” is supported by the Tourism Alliance, the Bed & Breakfast Association, Alastair Sawday Publishing, South West Tourism, Tourism South East, Farm Stay UK, the English Association of Self-Catering Operators, and the British Institute of Innkeeping, amongst others.

The campaign’s launch follows the decision of the Fire Safety Minister, Parmjit Dhanda MP, not to issue guidance to local fire authorities, despite admitting that “an over-zealous and, in some cases, a disproportionate approach by some fire safety officers may be damaging both the [tourism] sector itself and the reputation of the Fire and Rescue Service”.
For further detail, please see http://www.firesafetysense.com/